Terrorism More than 10,000 ISIS fighters killed since August 2014: U.S.
Antony Blinken, U.S. deputy secretary of state, speaking at a meeting of leaders from more than twenty countries who are meeting in Paris for discussions on how to combat ISIS, said that more than 10,000 Islamic State fighters have been killed since coalition forces started their campaign against the militant group in Iraq and Syria nine months ago. He said there had been a great deal of progress in the fight against the Islamists, but that they remained resilient and capable of taking the initiative. He said the coalition had made “real gains” and said the ISIS now had 25 percent less territory than when the air strikes began in August, but experts note, however, that even after being pushed back in a few places, the militants still control an area the size of Italy across Syria and Iraq.
Antony Blinken, U.S. deputy secretary of state, speaking at a meeting of leaders from more than twenty countries who are meeting in Paris for discussions on how to combat ISIS, said that more than 10,000 Islamic State fighters have been killed since coalition forces started their campaign against the militant group in Iraq and Syria nine months ago. He said there had been a great deal of progress in the fight against the Islamists, but that they remained resilient and capable of taking the initiative.
“We have seen a lot of losses within DAESH [the Arabic acronyms for Islamic State] since the start of this campaign, more than 10,000,” Blinken told France Inter radio on Wednesday. “It will end up having an impact.”
Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi, echoing complaints from Iran, said earlier this week that the U.S.-led coalition was not doing enough to help Baghdad push back the insurgents.
“At the start of this campaign (we) said it would take time,” Blinken said. “We have conceived a three-year plan and we’re nine months into it.”
The Telegraph reports that the U.S.-led coalition also called for the “speedy launch” of efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis, which it said was essential to tackle ISIS’s advances through Syria and Iraq.
The coalition maintained that recent advances by ISIS notwithstanding, the coalition had a “winning strategy,” and the leaders meeting in Paris have given their approval to Iraqi plans to retake territory from the Islamists.
Blinken, who stood in for the hospitalized John Kerry, hailed Baghdad’s strategy as “the right plan both politically and militarily for Iraq at this time.”
He said the coalition had made “real gains” and said the ISIS now had 25 percent less territory than when the air strikes began in August.
Experts note, however, that even after being pushed back in a few places, the militants still control an area the size of Italy across Syria and Iraq.
Retired Gen. John Allen, appointed by President Barack Obama to build a coalition against ISIS, told a Brookings Institution’s U.S.-Islamic World Forum conference in Qatar earlier today that the growth of ISIS had global implications and could “wreak havoc on the progress of humanity” if unchecked.
He said the group was not merely an Iraqi problem or a Syrian problem but “a regional problem trending towards global implications.”
ISIS has lost about a quarter of the populated areas it once held in Iraq, but countering its ideology might take a generation or more, he told the Brookings Institution’s U.S.-Islamic World Forum.
